Growing up, I lived in the most suburbiest of suburbias. My family comes from Swedish decent, so that makes us the whitest of white. The town was small, but grew quickly. Where I lived, property value went down as minorities came in, so likewise, my family moved to a "nicer" neighborhood. That little tidbit tells you a lot about my hometown, doesn't it? There was nothing much to do except go to school, do sports, make your parents proud, then go off to college. My mom was the biggest supporter of this idea. She was quite a character, always the silliest in the room but also the quickest to snap. My dad was always the complete opposite. I somehow was lucky enough to grow up and have the ability to pick and choose between different traits I wanted to take from them. A trait I picked up on my own, without the help of the adults in my life, was acceptance. My community was so blindingly white, it's almost like everyone was secretly racist. I hated that. No one was straight up about it, but it's not something you couldn't just pick up. In a town like that, you have to learn for yourself. You need to figure out your own way to be an individual and create your own beliefs based on your own experiences, not just from the teachings of your elders. Some things they teach are outdated, others aren't. You just have to choose for yourself, not let living in "little boxes made of ticky tacky" mold you into just another robot of suburbia.